The Nation: Katrina Vanden Heuvel: My Real Family Values

Source:The New Democrat

Wow this is not only the first post I've posted involving Katrina Vanden Heuvel, but I actually agree with probably everything she wrote in her Nation column today. She is quite a bit further to the left of me and has strong socialist or social democratic tendencies and I'm of course am a New Democrat ideologically.

But what I liked about how she wrote her column today is that she said. We meaning America "are the only developed country in the world that doesn't have paid family maternal/paternal leave". That is leave or pay for workers who take time up to take care of their newborn babies. Whether they are mothers or fathers". Well that is not completely true which she mentioned in her piece. We have the Family Medical Leave Law since 1993 and she also correctly pointed out that for workers/parents to qualify for that benefit they have to meet tough requirements and restrictions.

Katrina also said that we not only should have Family and Medical Leave making it universal for all workers. Well for me at least all workers who make under a certain amount. For high-end workers I would make that pay voluntary for the employer, but middle especially lower-end middle class workers and of course low-income workers should definitely be eligible for this benefit. But Katrina also said that employers should be required to pay their employees family leave, as well as sick leave. But she also said that employers should be paying for these benefits. Not create a new federal program to finance them.

I read The Nation everyday and no not because I tend to agree with them, but the opposite is true. I like to know what intelligent people who I tend not to agree with, or at least disagree with roughly half the time or more and what they are thinking. With The Nation especially when it comes to policies like this I'm almost automatically expecting them to propose some new federal big government program to accomplish whatever goals they are trying to accomplish. With of course some new tax or tax increase to finance it.

But today Katrina Vanden Heuvel proposed not only a new national family and medical leave proposal. Which is certainly a goal for Liberals, Progressives and Socialists even in America. But her proposal was mainstream and took a center-left approach in how to accomplish it. Which was to pass a new law requiring employers cover their employees with these benefits. Instead of proposing some new federal big government program to cover these benefits. Which is the idea that Danny Vinik proposed today in The New Republic.